# The (After)life and Times of Cardiff Archer



## Harlequin (Oct 4, 2009)

Um. Honestly, I don't know what this is. I don't know why I wrote it. I've got no plan and no further ideas. Things are happening as they're happening. I think we should just deal with it as it comes. Um. Yeah.

*Introduction​*

Cardiff Archer was a normal girl. Until she died. Then she was dead, and dead people can't really be normal or abnormal because they're dead. Right? 

Well...

*Table of Contents​*


02/05/09 A Diary Entry
08/05/09
11/05/09 A Diary Entry
13/05/09


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## Harlequin (Oct 4, 2009)

Dear Diary,

I stumble. It happens a lot. Sometimes I can't control it. Sometimes I do it on purpose. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I guess it's because I have nothing to say.

My name is Cardiff Archer. It's a weird name. I know. My parents always were a bit off it. Anyway. A few days ago I died. It's weird, isn't it, to hear that someone died when they're talking to you? It's okay, though. I was like that at first too. I tried killing myself after about three hours just to see if it'd work. 

It didn't. I'm still here. I'm dead but I can't leave. I don't know why. Nobody will tell me. I don't think anyone can actually see me. It's funny. You spend lots of time wishing that you were invisible or that no one would notice you and all that … but when it happens you'd rather be embarrassed ten times over than experience one more moment of crushing loneliness. 

I sound really depressing, don't I? Well... so would you if you were dead. I think. Maybe it is just me. I don't know. I don't know much of anything, really. I can't even begin to describe my life – no, that's the wrong word, isn't it? I guess it's an afterlife, but it doesn't feel like any afterlife I've ever heard of.

Maybe that Greek one. What's it called? Hades? Yeah, let's call it Hades. This doesn't feel much like Hades. It doesn't feel much like anything. I died in a dress, and I mean okay it's May and all, but I'm not cold. I haven't been cold since I died. Or maybe I am cold but I just don't realise it because I'm dead.

I'm probably cold. I'm definitely not hungry, though. Or I don't think so. I shouldn't be. I don't know.

Sorry. This is boring you. I think. Um. Well. Oh. There's a man standing up. I think he wants to sit down. Did I mention I'm on a train? I don't have to pay any more. I'm dead. We go where we want to. Because we can.

Anyway. Yeah. Man wants to sit down. He can't if I'm here. I noticed that live people won't go anywhere near me. Yeah. So. Leaving now.

Cardiff Archer
02/05/09


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## Harlequin (Oct 16, 2009)

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]08/05/09[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]A tall, waif of a girl weaved in and out of the crowd which seemed to part for her as she walked by. Her skin was slightly paler than most around her, and her thick, dark blonde hair hung lankly around her face. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She wore a slightly dirty summer dress with a pink and white flower motif, over which was a too-small jacket that had seen better times. She shrugged her way past an obese man and slipped inside the train station.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Now where's the one for Neath...” she muttered to herself, her accent strongly that of south Wales and her voice full and rich. “Oh, that's right...”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The people clustered in the big room ignored her as she jumped over the gates and walked out and up onto the platforms. She caught sight of the long, thin train on her platform and ran for it.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She took trains most days, and she knew the train timetable almost by heart. She had been all around Wales in the days since her death and still had yet to find anyone who could see her. She had been seriously considering going to England to look in the larger cities there. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She sat along at the back. People would avoid her unless pushed to be near her. It had bothered her at first, but she had managed to grow used to the lack of human contact after a few weeks.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I don't even know why I bother,” she said, sliding down in her seat. “No one can see me. Or hear me. Or feel me.” As if testing, she slapped the woman sat in front of her on the top of the head. The woman made a noise and turned, but totally ignored Cardiff's presence. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She sighed. She had found that the only places she ever got noticed were cemeteries, and even then people forgot about her as soon as they stopped looking. It was infuriating.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The train started moving slowly, and Cardiff sat back and tried to enjoy the journey.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]*[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Some time later, the train arrived at Neath, and Cardiff left the station quickly. She frowned when she caught sight of the Wetherspoons across from the station but hurried away quickly. She tried to avoid her old haunts as much as possible. Dead as she was, memories still hurt.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She wandered through the streets, unaware of the goings-on around her. It was what she did every day. She had nothing else to do. [/FONT] 


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What _do_ dead people do?” she wondered aloud, wandering past the college, weaving in and out of the students.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Oh. It's Friday,” she said glumly, walking past a gaggle of her former friends. It had only been two weeks since her death, but already, it seemed, her friends had moved on. She could expect no less, really: life was constant motion and change, whereas death (or so she assumed) was unchanging stillness.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]That did not make it hurt less.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She turned away quickly, and almost ran in the opposite direction. People parted to make way for her. Soon she found herself walking along Cadoxton – where she had lived. She took a deep breath – unnecessarily, given that she no longer had to breathe – and looked at her house.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The first three days after her death she had spent in the house, desperately trying to convince her parents that she was alive, not missing and not dead, but it was all in vain after the police found the body.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Stabbed, they said, which was funny because Cardiff had no recollection of being stabbed and her body bore no wounds. Her parents had been—distraught, although that was perhaps too soft a word. Her twin sister was still in denial.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I'm sorry,” she whispered. And she was. She could not remember how she had died, and she only knew that it was a stab wound from what the police had said. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Death hurt.[/FONT]


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## Harlequin (Nov 29, 2009)

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Dear Diary,[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Oh, my God. You'll never guess what happened today! Like, ever! I was in Neath, right, in the college because I needed a book—I'm bored and I miss learning—and there was this _girl_ and she could _see me_.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]She didn't even know I was dead at first so I thought maybe she was dead too and she just thought I wouldn't be able to see her, but then it turned out she's not! I was happy. Well. I think you can tell![/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Can you tell? No, of course not, you're a diary. But anyone reading this can tell. Is anyone ever going to read this? _Hello, if you're reading this!_ I was telling you who I met![/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Her name's Alex. She's a first year. Never met her before now but we went to the same college! We don't take the same subjects. She does law and economics and um accounts! I don't do anything any more but I used to do chemistry, biology and psychology.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]So. Alex. Yeah. Well. She seems nice. She didn't really like talking to me. I can kind of sympathise. If I saw a dead girl wandering around the college library I would have freaked out.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I'm still dead, if you hadn't guessed. She's not dead. She's not exactly normal but she's alive. She wouldn't tell me why she can see me but she can. I followed her around. It's how I know what subjects she does. She has this friend. Tom. Well. She doesn't think he's a friend but I can see she likes him.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]He likes her.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]It's starting to rain. Last week I would have had to put the diary away but now I can keep it out. I found somewhere to live. Don't worry, it's not my old house. That was too sad for me, last time I went.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Every time I tried to make them notice me they did, but as soon as they looked away they forgot me again... I got too sad. :( Is it okay to put a smiley face in this? I hope so because I did. It's a sad face but you get what I mean, right?[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Oh. I was wrong. I do have to go but not because of the rain. I'm in someone's house and she's come back, and I'm sitting on her bed. There's a man with her and I think they want to use the bed for—you know. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Um. I have to go find somewhere else to go. [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff Archer[/FONT]
 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]11/05/09[/FONT]


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## Harlequin (Nov 30, 2009)

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]13/05/09[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff weaved in and out of the lingering students easily and skipped up the stairs. She tended to stay away from areas where she knew a lot of people – it hurt too much – but the college was one of her sources of new things. Two days ago she had met a girl who could _see_ her outside the law classroom, and it was that girl she was looking for.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]A tall, dark-skinned blonde woman veered off-course in order to avoid her, and Cardiff sighed glumly. She cheered slightly when she saw a short, curvy blonde girl at the end of the corridor.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Alex!” said Cardiff, rushing forward. The other girl's face soured when she caught sight of Cardiff.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Not here,” she hissed, dashing up another flight of stairs. Cardiff shrugged to herself and followed her.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Hi!” said Cardiff when they were alone in one of the seldom-used conference rooms of the business studies department.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What do you want, babes?” said Alex, twirling her peroxide blonde hair in her finger.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Why can you see me? And hear me?”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Well, like, it all started a year ago. Um. Don't really want to go into it, to be honest, but like, yeah. There's a reason, babes, don't worry. You're not a vampire, are you?”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Are vampires real?” said Cardiff, head tilted to one side. Alex frowned.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Don't know. It'd be _lush_ if they weren't.”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Why?”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Well, because, like, then I'd have to kill them,” said Alex matter-of-factly, shrugging. Cardiff snorted.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]What are you, Alex the Vampire Slayer?” [/FONT] 


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]No! I hope not, anyway. Buffy _dies_. Like, twice.” Alex clutched her over-sized bag to her likewise over-sized chest. “My tits are too big, anyway.”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]They are a bit,” agreed Cardiff. [/FONT] 


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]So what are you, then? Are you a ghost? You don't like, look like one. And I can't even sense any evil in you, so you're not like, a demon or anything. I think that means I don't have to kill you. I'll ask Tom. He'll know.” She paused. “You don't _mind_ if I have to kill you, do you? That'd be lush. Usually they fight and then I get like, ectoplasm all over my clothes. I killed this thing last week, right, and it _ruined_ my new top from River Island. Weren't happy.”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff blinked.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Um. No? I'm already dead. I died a few weeks ago.”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Alex combed her body with her eyes and then reached out to touch her. She took Cardiff's hand in hers, tracing her warm, blood-filled fingers over Cardiff's ice-cold hands.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Well. That's weird. Are you sure you're not a vampire?” She appeared almost hopeful.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Yes,” replied Cardiff. “Um. No. I haven't sucked anyone's blood, though! I don't think I'm a vampire. I might be a zombie.” [/FONT] 


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]It was something she had considered. Dead things that appeared, reanimated, and had no need to suck blood were called zombies, she had thought.[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Alex shook her head.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You're not a zombie, babes. I don't know what you are, though. What's your name?”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff.”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Oh? That's a—oh my God you're dead.”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff frowned.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I know, I just told you...”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Alex shook her head.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]No, like, you, you're dead. I know you! You're like, Katie's friend's twin sister! Oh my God I'm going to the cinema with Katie later!”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Is that a problem?” [/FONT] 


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Well, like, I mean, not really, but she already thinks I'm weird because I've got like, crossbows and stuff, and I never tell her anything since last year... _Why did you have to be dead!?”_ she demanded, frowning.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Sorry.”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Alex looked at her watch.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Look, um, sorry babes, but can we do this again? It's Orange Wednesdays, see, and it's half-day today, and I'm meeting Katie in Swansea in a bit...”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff's face fell.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]No, look, um! I'll speak to Tom, he'll speak to Scott and then I'll see what I can do, okay babes? Look, you're lush, I like you and stuff, but I have to go meet Katie... I missed her birthday, see, and she was funny with me for weeks.”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Okay, I—Friday?”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You're sure you're not a vampire, then?”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff nodded.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Well... I'm supposed to be going out Friday because Sophie's boyfriend cheated on her with a boy, but … meet me by Neath Abbey Tesco at quarter to four? You can walk me home and we'll have a chat then, okay?”[/FONT]


 [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Cardiff nodded.[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Okay, deal.”[/FONT]


 “[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Right, babes, I'll see you later...” said Alex, slinging her bag over her shoulder and rushing out of the room. Cardiff stayed a while longer, staring out the window toward the science block.[/FONT]


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